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Twitter has had a native URL shortener for some time, but it wasn’t until recently that they have begun automatically shortening URLs and link-wrapping those over 20 characters with a t.co URL. Alot of people are excited about these changes, including brands and media due to the condensed traffic source via the t.co link-wrapping. One service that has to be less thrilled about these changes is Bitly.

Bitly has been the dominate force amongst URL shorteners which has afforded them access to the real-time data kingdom. Sitting at the helm of real-time information sharing enables Bitly to derive incredible insights at both an aggregate and individual level. The applications to leveraging all the real-time data sharing …Continue Reading

There is never enough time to do all the things that need to get done in a startup. Hence , we continuously look for ways to be more productive. I recently read an interesting natural study about inefficiency in the public sector and it got me thinking about transparency and its effects on output.

The case examined multiple public agencies performing identical tasks at different sites. Originally there was no transparency amongst the agencies about comparative performance and despite the fact that they were performing the exact same tasks, there were gaps in the levels of output. Tired of the disparity, an executive decision was made to make the output information available across agencies. Shortly after, the lagging agencies improved their performance …Continue Reading

I’m extremely fascinated by the opportunity to leverage data to find implicit signals. If you’re unfamiliar with the term implicit signals, I’m referencing instances when user actions/data imply meaning, yet don’t state it outright. Fred Wilson provides some additional quality content on the implicit web here. An example of an implicit signal can be if I check into the same coffee shop on foursquare every morning. By doing this I’m implicitly recommending their coffee. I don’t state it outright, but the act of me broadcasting my location when I purchase it every morning implies that I like their coffee.

API’s have driven a lot of the innovation around this concept because they enable the sharing of data. Still, I believe we …Continue Reading

I heard an amazing story at my Church weekend. I drew many parallels from it to my own life including some of the things I’ve learned in my journey as an entrepreneur. The story goes like this:

Alexander the Great’s powerful army spent years overwhelming opposing armies in their conquests. His men were fierce and swelled with the confidence that comes with consistent victory. Yet when Alexander and his men arrived on the shores of Persia they were visibly outnumbered. Clearly outmanned, his men pleaded that it would be wise to go back and get more men. Alexander responded by ordering the men to burn their boats. As their only means of retreat went …Continue Reading